French Wars of Religion

The French Wars of Religion (March 1562-April 1598) was a series of civil wars primarily fought between Catholics and Huguenots in the Kingdom of France. The conflict was mostly fought between rival nobles, but it occasionally spilled beyond France's borders, such as the 1595-1598 war with Spain spilling over into Italy, some of the German states of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Duchy of Burgundy possessions in the Low Countries. About 3,000,000 perished perished as a result of violence, famine, and disease caused by the wars.

Background
The 15th century had marked the rise of the House of Valois, having just won the Hundred Years' War. The growing power and international standing of the Valois was, however, challenged by the Habsburgs, whose influence had reached a peak in the "universal monarchy" of Charles V (1517-1557). Even after Charles abdicated, the two branches of the family held the thrones of Spain and the Austrian lands, ensuring they were a natural choice for election as Holy Roman Emperors. Rivalry with the Valois was inevitable and had worked itself out in the second phase of the Italian Wars of 1517 to 1559. At the same time, the Protestant Reformation and the Counter-Reformation caused the polarization of society, as John Calvin's protests had been heard in Catholic France. The stage was set for civil warfare in the kingdom.

History
As regent to her young son Charles IX of France, Queen of France Catherine de Medici sought peace among the nobility, accomodating between Catholics and Calvinists. In the vacuum left by her husband Henry II of France's death in 1559, however, the great houses looked to their own interests, while Catholic France refused to be reconciled with the Protestant heretics. This intransigence was encouraged by the House of Guise, the self-apointed guardians of Catholicism. In March 1562, Duke Francis de Guise led an attack on Protestants found worshipping in Vassy, Champagne, killing over 80 men and women. Civil war erupted between the Catholic crown and the Protestant Huguenots, led by Louis I of Bourbon, Prince de Conde.

The Battle of Dreux was fought to the north of Orleans in December 1562, and it was marked by hapless generalship on both sides. Having not seen any scouts ahead, Conde was caught unawares when his force met the Catholic army face to face. Stunned himself, the Crown's marshal Anne de Montmorency failed to attack for two hours. Conde's cavalry could not penetrate the wall of Swiss pikemen facing them, but his own landsknechts were not so stalwart. The Catholics won teh day. Two months later, the Duc de Guise was assassinated at the siege of Orleans. Catherine de Medici arranged a truce, and Charles IX began to rule France in his own right.

Other countries watched the situation in France; Protestant England, sympathetic to the Huguenots, enjoyed its enemy's difficulties. Spain's Philip II had no love for the House of Valois, but his Catholic piety was real. He feared Protestantism's capacity to create political unrest, which had already manifested in the Netherlands. The "Armed Peace" in France gave way to renewed war in 1567. Outnumbered at the Battle of Saint-Denis, near Paris, the Huguenots were defeated once again, but the Peace of Longjumeau in 1568 made them concessions, which enraged diehard Catholics.

The Huguenots were soon ready to campaign again. Funded by England, they had 14,000 German reiters. These mercenary cavalry fought with guns and swrods, and they often used the caracole maneuver, in which the riders advanced in formation with pistols in both hands, preparing to fire one at a time before reloading. The Royalists had numbers on their side, with troops from Spain and states in Italy. at Jarnac in March 1569, the Huguenots lost both the battle and their leader, with the Prince de Conde being shot. Although the Protestants prevailed nearby at La Roche-L'Abeille, the Catholics defeated them again at Moncountour in 1570, bringing an end to this round of fighting. In 1572, the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre sparked another war, ending with the Edict of Boulogne, which restricted the Huguenots' rights. Most were restored under the Edict of Beaulieu, which concluded the Fifth War of 1574-1576. Charles died in 1574, and he was succeeded by his brother Henry III of France, a conciliator like his mother.

In 1576, Duke Henri de Guise, Francis' successor, established a "Catholic League", its unstated aim to secure the throne for himself. The Pope and Spain backed it, but Henri III had Henry of Navarre on his side. Henry of Navarre was a member of the House of Bourbon and a Protestant, and he fought for the Huguenot cause. He was also a descendant of King Louis IX of France and, as Henry was childless, he became the legitimate heir to the French throne. The Catholic League was determined to stop Henry, and the Catholic forces attempted to surprise him at dawn at the Battle of Coutras in 1587. However, his well-trained veterans held their formations and made every shot tell. The Huguenot reiters were deployed to great effect, and thge Catholic armored knights and lancers were cut down easily by Henry's arquebusiers as they charged. Two years later, Henry became King of France, following the assassination of Henry III by a Catholic extremist. Henry converted to Catholicism before he was crowned, but he did not entirely abandon the Protestant cause. His 1598 Edict of Nantes confirmed the Huguenots' religious freedoms and gave them security in the form of rights to maintain their own garrisons and troops.

Aftermath
Although the coronation of Henry IV took most of the acrimony out of France's divisions, not much had been settled. Philip II of Spain found his worst fears realized when Protestant fervor fuelled demands for political change in the Netherlands, leading to the Dutch Revolt. Peace in France was brought to an abrupt end in 1610, when Henry IV was assassinated by a Catholic fanatic. In 1627, King Louis XIII of France besieged the Huguenot city of La Rochelle, but France's problems were quickly overshadowed by the wider religious conflict of the Thirty Years' War. The France that emerged from the wars was an autocratic, highly-centralized state with no room for dissent of any kind. King Louis XIV of France made his own view onr eligion clear with his revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, which effectively outlawed Protestantism in France once more.